The Senate has described the N38bn earmarked for federal road repairs in the 2021budget as grossly inadequate.
According to the red chamber, nothing meaningful could be achieved by the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency across the country with the amount proposed for it.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on FERMA, Senator Gersome Bassey explained on Friday that the country requires N400bn annually to maintain the federal roads across the country.
Bassey stated that for the 35,000 kilometres federal road in the country to be motorable at all times, the sum of N400bn is required on yearly basis for maintenance. He therefore insisted that the N38bn earmarked for maintenance of over 35,000 kilometres federal road across the country would not give Nigerians the desired results, hence the amount should be reviewed upward.
The Chairman said, “What the committee submitted to the Appropriation Committee in the 2021 fiscal year is the N38bn proposed for it by the executive, which cannot cover up to one quarter of the entire length of deplorable roads in the country.”
He admitted that, despite having the power of appropriation, his committee cannot jerk up the sum since it is not in a position to carry out the estimation of work to be done on each of the specific portion of the road.
“Doing that without proposals to that effect from the executive, may lead to project insertion or padding as often alleged in the media,” he said.
